Another Loss
by Kittyfox77
Summary: Nothing has been going for Ed and Al. They just can't stop getting into dangerous positions, and people keep getting hurt. When someone else dies in the place of Ed, he can't stand the guilt that eats away at him anymore.
1. Chapter 1

Ed ran full speed ahead. He was trying to get away from Scar, who had managed to destroy his automail-again. Normally, this would be about the time that Ed would sneer at Scar, yelling about how Winry was going to kill him for ruining her precious work. But this wasn't going the way things "normally" did.

For one thing, Scar seemed a lot more angry than usual. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that Ling/Greed was attacking them? Ed couldn't be sure. And that was the other thing: Ed had been trying to convince Ling that he should be fighting the homunculus inside of him, not fighting Ed. And that had turned out to be a total failure, since Scar had taken that as an opportunity to get Ed's arm destroyed.

"Brother, look out!" Al called, bringing Ed back to his current predicament.

Ed looked back just in time to see Ling hurl a huge chunk of concrete at his head. Crap, he couldn't transmute with one hand! Calculating in his head at lightning speed, Ed turned to face the oncoming projectile and decided his best course of action was to duck, which he did. Maybe he was thinking about that a little too hard, but hey, the heat of battle made you focus on the weirdest things.

"Al, I think it's time to go." Ed called to his brother hoarsely, who was trying not to get hit by Scar's pseudo alchemy.

"But what about Ling?" Al called back, his voice making it sound like he hadn't been running away from a mass murder for the last half hour. Sometimes, Ed couldn't help but wish he didn't get winded, like his little brother. Must be nice to fight Scar forever without running out of steam.

"What about him? It doesn't sound like he wants to be convinced right now."

"No, you just aren't in any condition to keep fighting him." Al chided.

"Shut up!" Ed snapped, not in the mood for games,"Let's go before you get hurt."

"Whatever you say, brother."

"Believe it or not, I can _hear_ you when you two yell back and forth like that. Just so you know."

An eerie voice whispered, far too close for comfort. Ed spun around to face Greed; he still hadn't gotten used to that creepy voice that the new Greed had. It sounded nothing like the old Greed or Ling, and it only made Ed more determined to get Ling back in his own body. (Even to himself, that last thought sounded a little crazy).

"Who cares if you can hear us? It's not like you could stop us." Ed lied through his teeth. He could only hope that he could get out of there alive; there were no guarantees, especially with Scar there.

Greed laughed; it grated against Ed's ears, and he fought the urge to cover them.

"You think you can get away from me? I get everything I want, and I want to beat you."

Ed was just going to ignore him. No sense in bothering with Greed anymore when he was just trying to get away.

As Ed turned to "strategically regroup", as he liked to call it, Greed started screaming bloody murder. Ed turned back, eyes wide, as Ling fought to regain himself from the homunculi.

"Get…out…" That was Ling's real voice, Ed realized.

"Brother!" Al called, nearly screaming. Ed's heart dropped. He ignored Ling entirely, despite wanting to help his friend. Al was being backed up against a wall by Scar, and Scar looked ready to kill.

"Al!" Ed raced towards the fight, jumping over the jagged hunks of concrete that protruded at odd angles from the ground. Someone was going to be pissed about that later. People didn't seem to like it very much when Ed and Al fought in Central, even if they were in a remote back alley….sort of.

Scar was reaching towards Al, his hand clawed. He wasn't going to make it to them in time.

"Al!" Ed cried desperately. Then, quite unexpectedly to everyone, an unfamiliar voice joined the chorus of screaming echoing throughout the alley.

"Mommy!" it cried. Everyone's heads whipped towards a little boy, who stood at the entrance of the alley. Alphonse and Scar were closest to him, with Ling being the furthest, but their interest in the boy was opposite of their positions. Scar ignored him completely, going back to trying to get Al, while it turned out that Greed had incorporated the boy into his plans. Ed had taken the newcomer's appearance as an opportunity to get his head on straight, and now he felt he was close enough to Scar to try to talk to him. But before he even opened his mouth, he was had a whole new problem to deal with.

Ling, no, Greed, for Ling seemingly hadn't been able to regain himself, was holding the little boy by the scruff of the neck. Greed had somehow managed to get past Ed and Scar to get to the boy. He was crying more loudly for his mother, and seemed beside himself on what he should do. He pathetically tried to flail out of Greed's grasp, but of course, he was no match for a homunculi.

"Everyone stop what they're doing, or I kill this kid." Greed demanded, swinging the child for good measure.

"Stop it!" Ed yelled, too furious to care about falling into Greed's trap; whatever that was. Scar had stopped trying to disassemble Al: the only upside to this awful turn of events. Scar seemed interested in how this would play out, so he had stopped to watch Greed.

"Ling, don't do this!" Al cried, still backed up against the wall. Greed ignored him. He seemed to only have eyes for Ed, who was torn between his brother and Greed.

"While you might not be able to get everything that you want, I can." Greed snickered. "And this is how it's done."

Ed looked at the crying boy. He couldn't have been any older than Nina had been when she died. Forcing back the unshed tears that her memory brought, Ed felt his face turn red with anger. "What do you want?" he steamed, getting ready to kick some serious ass.

"I want…" Greed took some time to think, forcing the others to wait for him. Seriously? He seriously grabbed some poor, innocent boy and held him hostage, without knowing what he _wanted_? That was it. Ed couldn't take this anymore, especially not from this idiot, Greed.

Surprising everyone, Ed charged towards Greed, hoping the element of surprise would give him enough time to use his alchemy to get the boy out of danger.

"Brother!" Al cried out, but Ed ignored him. He was in the heat of the moment, and he was going to get Ling to realize that Greed was such an idiot that it should be simple to get his body back. Greed watched his adversary advance, obviously too slow to realize what Ed was doing. Or so Ed thought. A step or so away from Greed, Ed reached to clap his hands together to form a sword with alchemy…. Only to find that he only had one hand. _Who forgets something like that?_ That was his last thought before he skidded to a halt in front of Ling, who reached out and punched him in the nose. Ed tasted blood as an explosion of pain erupted from his face. It wasn't the most painful thing he had ever gone through, but it was apparently enough to knock him out. Blinded from the hit, the last thing Ed remembered before losing consciousness was hearing the screams of his brother and that innocent little boy. Little did he know that it would haunt him for the rest of his life.

* * *

><p>AN: Hey people! Thanks for reading! :) I honestly don't know if I should continue this story or not. I haven't worked on it in a while because it doesn't seem like anyone likes it. If I get a few comments on it... *hint hint wink wink* Maybe I'll have the self-confidence necessary to write again. I don't know... 5 comments on each chapter might help me change my mind...

Anway, thanks again for reading! Enjoy!


	2. Chapter 2

Al cried out as his brother fell, hurtled past both Al and Scar by the strength of Ling's punch. Now Ling was at the mouth of the alley, and Ed was toward the dead end. How in the world were they going to get out of there?

Al just couldn't understand why Ling was doing this. Ling was strong; how come he couldn't get rid of Greed? It just didn't make sense to him.  
>"Ling snap out of it!" Al yelled at him, the aggravation making his voice crack. Scar was holding him back, still keeping the promise he had made some time ago.<p>

"I won't kill your brother," Scar had promised Ed, "as long as he doesn't get in my way." Scar had kept that promise too. Now that Al wasn't in his way of getting to Ed, Scar was basically leaving him alone, except for the fact that Scar wouldn't let him leave his place on the alley wall. He was basically pinned there, and Scar wasn't moving a muscle, despite the fact that Al was pushing against him.  
>"Do you mind?" Al asked, trying to get to Greed. Scar watched Al wordlessly for a moment, and then let him go. Relieved, Al took a step towards Greed, only to realize that Scar was going after his brother. What now?<p>

Fortunately (or maybe unfortunately, Al would never truly know), Greed stopped them both once again.  
>"Hello! Did everyone forget about the kid over here?" Greed waved the sobbing boy in the air again, causing him to cry out more loudly. Al watched as Scar turned towards Greed for a moment, only to go right back to stalking over to his unconscious brother.<p>

"Don't just ignore me, you Ishbalin scum!" Greed yelled haughtily. He sneered as Scar turned back again, this time with a look of extreme anger.  
>"What was that, homunculi?" <em>If looks could kill…,<em>Alphonse thought, terribly frightened by Scar's expression. Greed seemed to think through what was going on, and he didn't like where things were going.

"Oh, would you look at the time!" he called, dropping the little boy suddenly as Scar advanced. "See you around, losers!" And with that, Al watched the powerful duo run off, leaving nothing but destruction in their wake.

Al first tossed a glance over to Ed, and upon seeing that he was still breathing, he went to check on the other body left behind. The little boy, he wasn't so sure about. On closer inspection though, it seemed that he had merely passed out, which made Al feel much better. He was just about to pick up the small form when Al heard his brother moan unexpectedly. Without a second thought, he ran back over to his brother's side. His face was covered in blood; it was probably best if Al got a hold of Mustang, since he could provide them with transportation to the nearest hospital.

It was this train of thought that was suddenly derailed by another unexpected appearance. This time though, the new arrival wasn't so harmless. Quite the opposite, in fact, it was Envy.  
>"So what, now there are two pipsqueaks? Are you guys <em>trying<em> to confuse me?" Envy asked. Al found him standing over the unconscious boy, looking down on him as if he were a piece of garbage. Al stood up, making sure he was between his brother and Envy. He couldn't take any chances with this guy around.  
>"What are you doing here?" Al asked, none too kindly.<br>"Oh you know: the usual. I'm making sure that the new Greed doesn't screw up on his job."  
>"Oh really? And how's he doing?" Al asked, trying his best to get information out of Envy. Envy laughed.<br>"Nice try, but I'm not as dumb as Gluttony. But now that I think about it…" Envy started to shape shift, cutting himself off for a moment. "I think he could've done a better job. Maybe I'll finish what he started." Envy growled. He now had the body of a jaguar, a ridiculously muscular jaguar. Al gulped, but readied himself anyway. He hoped his alchemy would be enough to protect his brother.

Too bad it turned out not to be.

Al gave it everything he had. Really he did. For his brother, why wouldn't he? But Envy just seemed to get faster and faster with each passing moment, and even though Alphonse didn't tire, he did tear. Before he knew what was happening, Envy was ripping apart the metal that held him together, somehow managing to dodge the alchemic attacks that Al was barraging him with.  
>"You aren't half as good as your older brother. Leaves me wanting more of a challenge." Envy snarled in his ear.<p>

Al promptly ignored Envy's taunts, instead focusing all of his energy on actually hitting his target. But Al wasn't having any luck. In what seemed like no time at all, Envy had won. Al saw the main part of his armour shatter, and his vision was skewed as his attached soul clattered to the ground.

Envy morphed back into his usual body to stand over Alphonse. He simply laughed at him for a few moments, enjoying the thrill of victory.  
>"What do you want?" Al asked, hating the way he felt. The anger inside of him felt like it was going to rip him apart; the foreign feeling made him feel almost diseased. "You could've killed me, even though I'm pretty sure you're not allowed to. What are you trying to do?"<p>

"Well isn't it obvious?" Envy asked pompously as he strode over to the little boy. Al had almost forgotten about him in all the confusion. It seemed like the poor thing was just starting to wake up, but when he saw Envy, he immediately tried to make a run for it. "Hey, not so fast." Envy chided, catching the boy with an inhuman speed that did nothing but scare him more.  
>"Let him go!" Al yelled, letting his voice betray his anger and fear.<br>"Oh, it's so cute that you care." Envy said, holding the boy close to examine him.

"Mommy!" he shrieked, flailing aimlessly in Envy's grasp.  
>"What a pain." Envy said, disgusted. "He's obviously useless."<p>

Al watched in perfect horror as Envy moved his other hand, and promptly plunged it into the chest of the boy. Al screamed, as if screaming for that innocent child, who seemed now to have no voice. His mouth was open, but there was no sound coming out. His eyes were wide, staring at the hand that had so forcefully encroached itself into him. There was a sickening squishy sound, indescribable from Al's point of view. He could do nothing but watch as Envy pulled the still beating heart out of the boy's chest, laughing all the while. Envy looked at Al's broken pieces and remarked, "I'm doing this for you, you know. You and your brother. You should be thanking me." "I really wish I could see your expression right now." he added, "Must be priceless."

Envy dropped the heart next to Al, who watched as it stopped beating. He felt like he was dropping into a deep abyss, a hole that he would never be able to get out of. More than anything, Al wished he could lose consciousness right now. At this moment, he didn't feel like he could handle one more thing being thrown at him, never mind having to watch Envy do any more unspeakable things.

Envy looked down on Ed, whose face was almost unrecognizable underneath the mask of blood that stained it. Envy whistled.  
>"Greed did quite a number on his face, didn't he? Lucky bastard. Wish I could've gotten this job." Envy muttered to himself. He then unceremoniously dumped the small body onto Ed's not much bigger body, but not before giving Ed a good kick to the side. He watched with a dark expression as Ed's body moved limply.<p>

"What are you doing? What do you want?" Al yelled, unnecessarily loudly. Envy stalked back over to the scraps of his armour and bent down to be closer to him. With a look that could scare a full-grown lion, Envy explained in an even tone, devoid of all emotion except for a hint of sanguine.

"My job was to deter the Fullmetal Alchemist. To stop him from sticking his nose where it didn't belong. Father's orders. And since I wasn't allowed to kill you or your brother, I decided this kid would do nicely. Whadya' think?" Envy stepped back to admire his work. He looked at the crumpled bodies like a sculpture; Al was pretty sure that if he had a body at that moment, he would've been sick.

"Anyway," Envy said, standing up and dusting himself off, "I've got to go. I'm sure the military will be here any minute. Morons never know when to keep out of other people's business." he complained.

Al was utterly speechless. After all, what could he say to a homicidal maniac? It's not like it would have made any difference anyway. And even if he wanted to, Al was pretty sure he couldn't say anything. Everything that had happened just kept replaying in his mind over and over. What had just happened? Was it his fault? So many thoughts kept swirling inside his head, and Al just felt like he was falling deeper and deeper into that black hole.


End file.
